In various fields of endeavor the identification of articles is important for tracking, auditing, and various other record keeping processes. In some fields, identification of an article may be necessary to establish a destination for the article, or to populate a record for a product that the article is to be associated with. Proper identification may be critical in some fields, such as in the field of medical transplants or implants. The identification of an implant that is to be used in a patient may be necessary for tracking the implant in studies, identifying potential candidates for implant recalls or consultations, or for registering an implant with a provider, manufacturer, or regulatory entity. The identification of implants, when performed manually by reading and transcribing identifying indicia, may introduce the opportunity for errors or omissions. Further, manual identification can be tedious and time consuming, particularly where the identification of an implant must be transcribed and communicated to various entities.